NEW DELHI, March 4: India's parliament broke up in chaos for a third day on Friday following the controversial appointment of a government allied to the ruling Congress party in the tiny eastern state of Jharkhand.

Livid opposition MPs bellowed for the dismissal of the state's governor after he asked Congress party allies to form a government following an election in which they won fewer seats than the Hindu nationalists and their partners.

Critics charge the uproar has tarnished the image of Congress, India's oldest political party, which pledged clean rule when it ousted the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP in the national elections last May.

BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said democracy was being "murdered" in Jharkhand by the Congress party, led by Italian-born Sonia Gandhi. State elections in Jharkhand last month resulted in a hung assembly. Despite the result, Congress-allied governor Syed Sibtey Razi went ahead and swore in a Congress ally as chief minister on Wednesday.

Results from the poll showed the new chief minister, Shibu Soren, and his Congress allies had won 33 seats compared to 36 seats for the BJP and its partners. Both coalitions are claiming the support of 42 legislators in the 81-member house.

In the national parliament, BJP leaders jumped to their feet on Friday and demanded that New Delhi sack Razi. The disarray forced lower house Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to adjourn proceedings early, citing a "disorderly situation". Similar scenes erupted in the upper house where proceedings also ended abruptly.

Parliament will resume next Wednesday. Razi, summoned by President Abdul Kalam to New Delhi on Tuesday to explain his actions, said he would ask the new government in Jharkand to prove its majority "at the earliest," the Press Trust of India reported.

The date would be announced in Ranchi, capital of Jharkhand, in "two or three days" after discussions with various parties, Razi told reporters after meeting the president for 30 minutes.

The row has been making headlines in national newspapers and become a major embarrassment for Congress, which appeared keen to distance itself from the governor's decision to ask Soren to form the government.

Newspapers quoted unnamed sources as saying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who enjoys a clean reputation, had no prior knowledge of the governor's decision. "The general directive" of Ms Gandhi, who is party president, is that state governors should follow the constitution in making decisions, a Congress spokeswoman said.

BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra warned the BJP and its allies would continue the parliamentary protests until the Jharkhand governor is fired, prompting accusations from Congress that the opposition was throttling democracy.

"The opposition talks of democracy while not allowing the biggest temple of democracy to function. This is a very undemocratic path," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters. -AFP